Shaping

[Travis]

I've never done intarsia before, so I'll throw out a question to you intarsia artists out there. How do you shape the wood? Belt sander? Drum sander? Dremel tool? I 'get' most of the process, but the whole shaping part kinda keeps me wondering where to start. What's in your shaping arsenal? What do I absolutely need to get me started and what bonus tools would I need to really make a nice go of it?

 

Thanks!

[Gray]

id like to know that too. a fella i worked with did intarsia of fish and deer and eagles. looks sharp when its done. i wouldnt mind trying it. id imagine the wood gets expensive, tho.

[cj53]

I have done some intarsia and it is fun. Shaping is done with a variety of tools. I mostly use a set of pneumatic drums with different grits, sometimes a dremel tool or flapwheel, and lets not forget the all important handsanding. The most important thing is to first cut accurately.

 

CJ

[Gray]

is a pneumatic drum hooked up to an air compressor then? i guess i don't know what that is.

[Handi]

Yeah it's Basically Air Tools, Air Sanders etc...

 

I've seen people use Dremels with a Small Drum Sander attached to it.

[Clayton717]

My shaping arsenal consist of a oscilating spindle sander, dremel, disk sander, and of course my hands.

Clayton

[Wood Alley]

I LOVE intarsia and it with out a doubt is my favorite form of working with wood. And obviously shaping is a BIG part of this art. Sooo first off if you are not into sanding then intarsia won't be your love. LOL!

I have a very old Delta 1x40 inch belt sander that I use for perhaps straightening out an over cut (for lack of better word). I like to make birds with each of their feathers being sanded and for me the belt sander is the tool for that. All in all I probably use my belt sander more than any other tool when it comes to shaping.

I also have a grizzly G7946 Floor Model radial Drill Press. This is another item I could not do without when it comes to sanding. I put my sanding drums in my drill press. I have a lot more control (for me anyway) when I am standing than seated and I could not live with out this tool. Sometimes each individual piece DOES NOT have to be sanded. The template will tell you to glue some pieces together and sand them as a whole piece. This is where the drill press with the sanding drums comes in so handy. It really rounds out pieces such as these all together.

I am a fool for those rolls of 1x 50 yards (or whatever the dimension may be as far as length) sanding paper. I am always cutting off pieces of that to do a finer sanding by hand (like between two feathers) because there is nothing worse than hearing yourself when using a big sander say out loud "Oops!" I pretty much touch up every piece with this kind of sand paper.

And then there's the 0000 steel wool. When everything has been sanded I always try to go over (again) every piece with the steel wool.

And back to the 1x sand paper rolls. I will cut off pieces of it and glue it to tongue depressors or Popsicle sticks, makes for good little sanding tools. I will also take it and cut it down into thin strips and this is an excellent way to get between hard to reach Scroll saw projects that need a little sanding in between the cuts.

 

If there is any one that has a particular question feel free to ask, I am no expert but I sure know what I know due to trial and error.

PEACE!!!

Wood Alley

[Travis]

So you do all your shaping with either a belt sander or a drum sander on the drill press? That's pretty impressive. I have a drum sander, but no belt sander. But they're pretty cheap. I'm so gunna try that this summer! Thanks for the great information, Allison!

[blame]

is a pneumatic drum hooked up to an air compressor then? i guess i don't know what that is.

 

the pneumatic drums just use air to inflate the rubber drum that the sanding drum is mounted to.

kinda like a inner tube for a tire

 

the basic idea is to allow the sanding drum to flex better while sanding exterior corners then the hard rubber type which are better used on interior corners

 

blame

[Travis]

is a pneumatic drum hooked up to an air compressor then? i guess i don't know what that is.

 

the pneumatic drums just use air to inflate the rubber drum that the sanding drum is mounted to.

kinda like a inner tube for a tire

 

the basic idea is to allow the sanding drum to flex better while sanding exterior corners then the hard rubber type which are better used on interior corners

 

blame

 

What does the drum hook up to? A drill press? Or do you convert a benchtop grinder? I guess I don't know much about them either.

 

Thanks!

[blame]

here is basic set up

http://www.mikestools.com/31-269-Delta- ... -Drum.aspx

 

there available for both direct motor mount and used on flex shafts

 

blame

[shadylady0447]

I use an oscillating spindle sander and a dremel tool with the flex shaft. Also a lot of hand sanding! If you plan to do any intarsia you need to get a good mask. Some of the dust from the exotic woods can be dangerous to your health.

Sue

[Travis]

I use an oscillating spindle sander and a dremel tool with the flex shaft. Also a lot of hand sanding! If you plan to do any intarsia you need to get a good mask. Some of the dust from the exotic woods can be dangerous to your health.

Sue

Good point. An often overlooked safety precaution. I've heard of some people having some strong allergic reactions to some of the exotic woods. Not that a dust mask will stop that, but you certainly don't want to have that stuff in your lungs!

[Fran]

I will use the 4x48 belt sander some to "lower" a piece. Mainly I use drum sanders on the drill press. I bought a set of drums from Harbor Freight that you can change the sandpaper on. I think the set has 4 different sizes of drums. I do some hand sanding, but mostly use a mop sander or star sanders to finish sand and get the marks from the drum sander out of the wood. Oh, yes, the Dremel tool is very good for the very small pieces or making viens or grooves in the wood.

Fran

[Travis]

oooo...I almost forgot about harbor freight. I bet they'd have some good inexpensive drums. Maybe a few other goodies as well! I think I'll check them out this weekend.

 

What grit sanding mop do you use? I assume you use the sanding star in the drill press too?

[Fran]

Travis,

I use 220 grit in the star sander, and yes in the drill press. I did try some 180 grit, but found it was a little too coarse. The drum sander set from Harbor Freight was $20 and they were 2" or a little more long. I use the 3x sandpaper in them, 80 grit I think. I don't know if regular sandpaper would work or not. This stuff is tough and don't tear easily.

Fran

[planetarypatman]

When I'm doing intarsia I take it in stages; first the whole project is cut. Second I do the first stage of shaping with sanding drums on my drill press and place each piece back together untill I'm satisfied with the basic flow of it. Next I use my dremnel to round all the edges. I find that using the dremnel it seems to leave a sharp line at the edge where you don't use it. I then take a bow sander to remove that. Finally It's good old elbow grease for the final stage which is hand sanding, I start with 150 grit then 180, then 220 grit until I'm satisfied with it.

Pat...

[derekkest]

Greetings all....I do a lot of intarsia for friends, family, and my daughter. A lot of the patterns I use for my daughter come out of her coloring books and are flat, plain, dull patterns.

 

I still try and follow the rule of natural finishes and such so sanding is a HUGE part of bringing things to life.

 

First I copy the pattern and label on the master copy the type of wood, grain direction and then do something I dont think most people do. I use a #2 pencil and shade in the pattern.

 

I give it depth this way and it allows a guideline for sanding.

 

When I first started, I used a simple sanding drum set I put on my drill press. This worked good but I found I was doing a LOT of finish sanding by hand as it marked the wood up all the time. Especially for large pieces I had to sand down half width.

 

So, that being said. I decided to go buy me a pneumatic drum and hook it up on my lathe. I use nothing else spare maybe some hand sanding here and there for edges now.

 

Buy using this I can adjust the pressure I am putting on the wood and I never have ( or very very rarely) have to go back and hand sand off blemishes left by the drum. I have also found that tooling it into my lathe I have more control over my pieces horizintaly from when it was verticle in the drillpress.

 

Just my two cents worth. You can normaly get a pneumatic drum from between $35.00 to $80.00 depending on size. They also make motors for them and a hand held option which someone referred to in an earlier post.

[Travis]

I decided to go buy me a pneumatic drum and hook it up on my lathe...using this I can adjust the pressure I am putting on the wood and I never have ( or very very rarely) have to go back and hand sand off blemishes left by the drum. I have also found that tooling it into my lathe I have more control over my pieces horizintaly from when it was verticle in the drillpress...

 

I'm not as familiar with lathes (I'm hoping to change that soon, though). Do you use a regular drill chuck in the lathe? I'd imagine you'd have a lot of control, especially if you have a VS lathe. I have a Sand-O-Flex sander chucked in my drill and I think its spinning much too fast. It would be nice to put something like that on the lathe with speed control.

[derekkest]

Travis,

 

I dont use a drill chuck in the lathe at all. I have a set of chucks that I use to turn pieces ( kind of like on a metal lathe) that I just wrench down onto it.

 

If you have a standard wood lathe with point / point ends then yes, your gonna need some sort or chuck to go into it

[amazingkevin]

so many ways of creating nice intarsias,files  knifes,chisels,axe,drill press .belt sander,bandsaw,most allking tools will get youthere but some allot faster and easyer than others.Work with what you have!